Saturday, January 10, 2015

The Kinks released "Tired Of Waiting For You" in England 50 years ago next week and the song quickly climbed to #1. It did the same in the U.S. a month later.

I like how the rest of the band rises on a scissors jack with respect to band leader Ray Davies -- exactly opposite to what happened in real life. Notice that brother Dave Davies is playing his signature Gibson Flying V guitar which he acquired in L.A. for $200 on a previous US tour. The whole story is here.

The Gibson Flying V was a 1950's design which reflected other jet themes in that era.

"[The TARP program] repaid taxpayers every dime and more of what my administration invested in you."

Then Obama leaves Michigan and flew to Phoenix to talk about housing in terms responsibility and recklessness empathizing with responsible folks that fell victim to forces beyond their control, the "market plummeting ." While somebody else was acting irresponsibly, poof, there goes the next paragraph in smoke.

"Weather on Wall Street, or folks who weren't responsible in terms of how they were dealing with their real estate -- ordinary families got hurt bad ."

Empathy.

Filling up the room with empathy.

Then off to Knoxville Tennessee to a State Community College to speak about the centerpiece of his education agenda, as you know, to make community colleges free because a quality education cannot be a thing reserved for a few.

I used to think that. If having degrees is so important then a degrees really should be free to the young person getting it but not free to society, because they ae expected to use it is some way or another upon graduating. So yes, pay for it and when the person continues on to employment their debt becomes repaid. It's an investment in educated citizenship. I used to think that.

I still kind of do. I thought we are doing it already. There is a weeding out process that determines if one is up to it. And teaching can be a lot less expensive and probably will be. Obama would like to see federal government changes that put federal government in the central role while changes in education occur elsewhere. There is a lot you can learn online. Plus people like to explain things. I can find pretty much any answer I want because all those people out there like to explain things. They give it to you for free.

When the Oreck portable overheated last night due the intake tube being jammed with styrofoam bits my first instinct is ask the internet how to fix it. That was after my first instinct was ask the internet how to put the bag replacement door back on, expecting a diagram.

I could be a plum-uh!

I passed thirty semester hours by taking exams. Certifications will replace traditional degrees. A boss is going to want to know if a person can do something and certifications give that assurance.

All this is on the American Elephant written by The Elephants Child, a group of some 11 writers. In a column titled Practicing up For the State of the Union Speech!

State of the Union?!

I'm invited? To watch the State of the Union? Thank you. This is such an honor.

*mops bathroom floor instead*

The writer at Elephant mentions but does not specify where the claims are made, here and there that Obama says 2014 was a breakthrough year with 240,000 new jobs. The group disputes this. They question his motives and they describe his behavior in unflattering terms.

The piece begins stratghtforwardly, "Obama is out campaigning and making speeches, his favorite thing to do, in preparation for the upcoming State of the Union Speech.

I visualized Joe stuck in Phoenix airport, his flight disrupted by Obama's plane. He had just told me.

There were thirteen planes lined up for takeoff and held back so out there on the tarmac in queue then second from front, the pilot realized he hadn't enough fuel so turned back. Stuck as passenger in the fuselage for so long and having his appointments in Denver disrupted. Today he mentioned the traffic to the airport before all that, with streets blocked off. I asked how many passengers on the plane. He said 138 and I imagine the ripples of disruption he described multiplied by that many, and then by the other planes full of people all going somewhere and payed for it that didn't have to return for more fuel but were still disrupted, to make way for a president's plane -- with one man and his posse. Wherever a president goes the ripples of disruption emanate like rings by his presence, as if with every single footstep disruption ripples outward. Disruptions he cannot imagine all at once with each footstep, if even anecdotally, even away from everybody else out there a tarmac. At the peak of Joe's irritation he talked about giving up flying altogether knowing full well that will not happen and I could tell even then he was put off by the president just a wee bit pleased to have a good story. Because I heard it twice.

Al Jazeera English editor and executive producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr sent out a staff-wide email.

“Please accept this note in the spirit it is intended — to make our coverage the best it can be,” the London-based Khadr wrote Thursday, in the first of a series of internal emails leaked to National Review Online. “We are Al Jazeera!”

Well good for you. We all know you are not Charlie Hebdo. Nothing even close.

Khadr sent a list of suggestion on how anchors and correspondents should handle the slaughter at the Charlie Hebdo office.

1) Ask if this is really an attack on free speech.

Yes. Next suggestion.

2) Discuss whether "I am Charlie" is an "alienating slogan."

No. It is an empty slogan. But do, go ahead and be alienated. It is your nature.

3) Caution viewers against making this a free speech European values under attack, rather, portray the attack as "a clash of extremist fringes."

Take your caution about how to frame this and stuff it where the sun does not shine. That would be your butt. It is not a particularly European value but it most certainly is codified American value. It seems unnatural at first, but it grows on you. It is the imposition of your values that is rejected. You want to live in the West then grow a pair and brace yourself for being offended.

More blah bhah tautological blabity-blah we've all heard a million times except phrased exactly the same way instead of various ways.

"A right to free expression in the face of oppression is not the same thing as the right to be obnoxious just because you can is infantile."

Khadr wants the monopoly on being obnoxious and offensive and infantile. Denied. That's the thing; you'll always find something to take offense. You are like little babies who are never happy with anything short of 100% submission and that is not going to happen, so suck it. You are infantile for justifying offense at something that is infantile.

4) Baiting extremists is not bravely defiant when your manner of doing so is more significant in offending millions of moderate people as well.

Yes it is. Because it shows how perfectly full of poo the whole lot of you are. You are so tender you cannot even take a little joke while simultaneously dishing it out all day long every day of the week, never missing a week in any given year, year in year out over centuries. You are out of your minds.

5) Within a climate where violent response is a real risk, goading on principle virtually everyone agrees is pointless. It is pointlessly about you.

Not so, Bozo. Since you are quite mad we must all comply? It is alway a climate where violent response is a real risk. Always! That is the point. You are demanding complete submission to your infantile murderous attitude. Protecting the prophet? He's dead. Knock it off already.

His attitude did not go over so well with all Al Jazeera employees.

Tom Ackerman in the U.S. sent his own email in response citing a NYT column stating such cartoons must be published so that radical Islamists must not be allowed to think their strategy can succeed.

No wait. What? Really? The NYT? That was by Ross Douthat. Well, wonders never do cease completely.

And that began an angry response from Qatar-based correspondents revealing a cultural rift at the network.

Qatar guy goes on about insulting 1.5 billion people and the chances of one or two of them moved to murder. And guessing about encouraging people to persist in insulting 1.5 billion people's most sacred icons then you must want more killings because in 1.5 billion there will always be some who do not abide by the laws nor care about free speech.

So? You keep saying 1.5 billion Muslims containing one or two crackpots therefore we must submit to your infantile values of religious sanctimony, imagining your argumentum ad populum, argumentum ad numerum is not fallacious. There are 2 billion Christians in the world and Iran and other insult them daily. And let's only mention the Jews whom your religion makes a religious duty of traducing, a properly sacred tenet as well. Charlie Hebdo comically insulted all of those Christians and Jews and politicians and celebrities continuously. That is at the core of free speech. American citizens are insulted regularly. Demonized in fact, by your religion. Daily. Take your convoluted fallacies and stuff them.

I don't even know why I'm listening to this. My attitude has calcified. They will never get through to me and my kind. They seek submission and they are not going to have it. In fact, I am tempted to draw Mohammed doing something irreligious right now, but I find him an uninteresting subject. Keep it up and I must start drawing away just to find release from your "infantile" nagging.

Nothing is sacred. Not even your crackpot prophet. And I don't care how many billions think otherwise.

This is all at National Review, where the author Brendan Bordelon puts [sic] in places where there is no mistake that I see. Maybe Bordelon just does not appreciate the way these guys talk. There are several. One after "making this a free speech 'European Values' under attack binary"

Another [sic] after, "fools who don't abide by the laws or know about free speech."

Another [sic] after, "Salem later wrote. "it' snot..." Ha ha ha ha ha. That is my favorite [sic] I thought it was an improperly gooey [sic] but it snot.

I love [sic] it is my all-time favorite editing notation.

The Qatar-based guy continues, "What Charlie Hebdo did was not free speech it was an abuse of free speech in my opinion, go back to the cartoons and have an look at them!

No. I have no need to go back and try to be offended on your behalf. I have them memorized because they're so cute. It is not abuse of free speech. That is the very essence of free speech. Your opinion, Mr. Qatari, is unAmerican! It is highly offensive to me. This is very dear to me. My religion, as it were. It is enshrined in our national constitution. Our sacred text. So shut up right now, all of you, forever, or I might become so enraged that I feel an intense urge to go over there and kill you.

See how that works?

The Qatar guys caused the Al Jazeera woman from BBC, now a correspondent in Paris to email a "polite reminder." *ding ding ding, red clanging railroad signal for something impolite*

#journalismisnotacrime

Ugh.

I want to smack her myself. Her hashtag triggered a furious reaction from another Arab correspondent Omar Al Saleh.

Of course it did.

"First I condemn the brutal killing."

Of course you do. I sense a "but" coming on. Let's hear the "but."

"But I am not Charlie."

Well, duh. Charlie is dead. Your infantile touchy guys killed him. And now they are dead too. But your guys did not kill those who will follow Charlie and now their publication will print a million copies instead of the usual sixty thousand. That is an increase of 167%. An immense act of defiance supported by Google, Le Monde, France Télévisions, and Radio France, all urging other media outlets to join in offering humanitarian and financial support. (While support for so-called Palestinians is withdrawn) The Guardian.

This is what happens when you insist in a horrible way then persist in insisting that people shut up.

The thing is that Obama did say that the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. What did he mean by that? To whom was he speaking when he said that? I certainly hope it wasn't to Americans, because it does fly in the face of our freedoms. I think he knew that, and said it anyway.

Grammatical point:

When the leader of the free world opines on the future, it's important to note which modal verb he used - should, could, must, will. etc. POTUS used "must" and not "should." If he had used "will" then I suppose there would be grounds for treason right there. As it is, he said, in so many words, that the future must not belong to the cartoonists. This is why I don't consider Obama to be my de facto leader: he wants to lead us to a place that I reject.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Kouachi: We’re just telling you that we are the defenders of the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and that I, Cherif Kouachi, was sent by “Al Qaeda in Yemen,” ok?Journalist: OkKouachi: And that I went there and that it’s imam Al-Awlaki that financed me.Journalist: Ok, and how long ago was it?Kouachi: It was a long time ago. Before he was killed. [inaudible]Journalist: So you came back to France not long ago?Kouachi: Oh yes, a while ago… the secret service I know them, don’t worry about it. I know very well how I was able to do things well.Journalist: Ok, and now there is only you and your brother here?

Brothers Said Kouachi and Cherif

Kouachi: That’s not your problem.Journalist: Some people are behind you, or not?Kouachi: That’s not your problem.Journalist: Ok, and are you planning on killing again in the name of Allah or not?Kouachi: Kill who?Journalist: I don’t know. That’s what I’m asking you.Kouachi: Did we kill any civilians in the past two days people have been looking for us?Journalist: You killed journalists.Kouachi: No but, did we kill any civilians? Civilians, or people during the two days you spent looking for us?Journalist: Wait, wait, Cherif, Cherif, did you kill this morning?Kouachi: But we are not killers. We are defenders of the prophet. We don’t kill women, we don’t kill anyone. We defend the prophet. If someone offend the prophet then there is no problem, we can kill him. But we don’t kill women. We’re not like you. You’re the ones killing the children of Muslims in Irak, in Syria, in Afghanistan. That’s you. Not us. We have honor codes in Islam.Journalist: But right now you avenged yourself, no? You killed people?Kouachi: We avenged ourselves exactly. You said it well. You said it yourself, we avenged ourselves.

The exile Cuban in Miami has detected "tension" among family close to Fidel Castro and "circles military" in Cuba by the numerous rumors that have been untied in the last hours over the death of the ex-president Cuban.

Spanish goes like this in my mind:

But you get the idea. We should say "unhinged," "untethered," "unleashed" or "flying around" instead of "untied."

There are so many cognitives it is not even funny, and it is very repeaty, the second paragraph to the first. Like hieroglyphics, redundancy for clarity and for aesthetics, I suppose. You must take it in chunks, then flip it around. It reminds me of doing so many backflips off a diving board that dives straight in then seems unnatural.

Back to the second paragraph.

Sources of exile consulted by EFE (an international news agency created by Spain's former minister of press and propaganda with 40 U.S. employees represented by News Media Guild, so you know this comes from Spain.) they assured that the information that came from Havana reveals "tension" among the establishment military, as well as people "linked" to Fidel Castro by "ties blood"

This is where a touch of interpretation skill come in. It's why you wait to the end of the sentence. There are better ways of saying such things in the target language than straight word for word translation. It is why there is a pause when speeches are vocalized, why it appears that interpreters are behind. If they are not behind, if they are ahead as they are sometimes in sign, then you know they are working from script. And that is disconcerting because it challenges how you would do the interpreting.

Again, in natural English:

Exile sources consulted by EFE said Wednesday that the information coming from Havana reveals tension among the military establishment, as well as people related to Fidel Castro by blood ties.

Rumors of Fidel Castro's death are like the Chevy Chase's old SNL Weekend Update catchphrase.

"I am referring here to the religious clerics. … It's inconceivable that the thinking that we hold most sacred should cause the entire umma (Islamic world) to be a source of anxiety, danger, killing and destruction for the rest of the world. Impossible!

"That thinking — I am not saying 'religion' but 'thinking' — that corpus of texts and ideas that we have sacralized over the centuries, to the point that departing from them has become almost impossible, is antagonizing the entire world. It's antagonizing the entire world! ... All this that I am telling you, you cannot feel it if you remain trapped within this mindset. You need to step outside of yourselves to be able to observe it and reflect on it from a more enlightened perspective.

"I say and repeat again that we are in need of a religious revolution. You, imams, are responsible before Allah. The entire world, I say it again, the entire world is waiting for your next move … because this umma is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost — and it is being lost by our own hands." (read the whole thing)

Here is how we know you are not Charlie Hebdo. Look, how wonderful you are all showing the exact same sign showing your unity in thinking. If you were all Charlie Hebdo your signs would all be different from one another. They'd all be cartoons. They would all be mocking the ridiculous parts of religious dogma. They would actually ridicule pompous attitudes of elected officials and others with power, and those with presumptive power, and none of yours do. No, you are not Charlie Hebdo. Not even close.

(Incidentally Hebdo is not a last name, it is abbreviated form of hebdomadaire meaning "weekly" indicating Charlie is published each week.)

Tomorrow, today actually, you will all be crowing about Islamophobia charging others with the affliction you suffer yourselves. You are afraid of Islamists and you are showing it here. Publish the cartoons or shut up. I don't want to look at you. Better yet, make new cartoons yourselves, or be quiet about being Charlie Hebdo. You disgust me.

Oh, you are being quiet. All of this is done in reverent silence.

"We don't want to offend ten million muslims by publishing cartoons when we can discuss and describe the events with words."

Such nonsense. You refuse to publish the cartoons as you do cartoons of Catholic pope for fear of being blown up or having your necks sliced through. You may indeed have ten million readers but do you imagine all ten million Muslims read your paper? By publishing cartoons designed to ridicule Christians and designed explicitly to ridicule Jewish people, your gig is up on not wishing to offend people of faith. This isn't merely hypocrisy, you are lying, to yourselves first and to everyone else secondly. Your lies are rejected.

Matt Welch points out that if you actually were Charlie Hebdo, there are things you would do.

* Not just take the piss out of Islamic-terrorist sensibilities with satirical cartoon, but do it six days after being firebombed for taking the piss out of Islamic terrorist sensibilities and do that in a manner that is genuinely funny, sometimes even touching, with the message "Love is stronger than hate."

Now see, that there is funny! And kind of adorable too.

* Not just print original cartoons of the historical figure, he who must not be depicted, but also defending and winning when being charged with offensive speech.

* Not just survive such hardships but not allow them to consume you by becoming obsessive or even semi-apologetic as even Salmon Rushdie converted to Islam.

Matt Welch continues lauding Charlie Hebdo for continuing doing what they do, producing juvenile and amusing checks on power and authority and pomposity of all types. He suggests doing a search [Charlie Hebdo +Jesus] and ask yourself which media entity in this country with its stronger free-speech protections would have the courage and latitude to blaspheme both.

Welch explains Hebdo didn't just run cartoons, it blasted authority and piety of all types including pompous asses who run France and equally pompous but more surbservient hacks in the national press.

Welch notes Charlie Hebdo was started in 1970 after another publican was shut down for its disrespect of the funeral of De Gaulle. It published things most journalists know but are too afraid to stand by.

Contrary to fools on Twitter who insist the cartoonists were merely some kind of Andrew Dice Clay acts looking for vulnerable minorities to kick around, they were some of the most beloved figures in France.

Wolinski, Cabu, Tignous, Charb created characters such as Mon Beuaf to mock for being crude and bigoted toward minorities, as example of their range.

Welch demands we are not brave as these satirists. We who delete previously published Muhammed images as the Associated Press has. It is not just the media who failed to be Charlie Hebdo but every person in the West who thinks speech should not offend and thinks that artistic commentary can incite murderous violence are also contributing to worsening cultural climate of speech and freedom.

And then there is Sally Kohn and others like her who will have us change the subject by comparing the attacks to all the Christians or Jews killing in the name of religion. For Sally Kohn's world is entirely relative where every event equates and comes out in the wash.

Why do liberals do this?

Because it is the only means they have for processing. All events must advance their cause(s). When something happens that does not fit, it must be force-fitted. It appears to normal people they are changing the subject, performing a switcheroo, arguing like my little sister, tender little sister, incapable of thinking straightforwardly. Their thinking appears disjointed. No, all events must further their cause. The track-switch operator activates instantly and powerfully to keep them on track. Their track. All facts fit their track. And that appears as a bizarre computation to the outside world of sensible processing.

Related, Tameesh (good and soonish) Business provides CNN presenters and common-taters. There is no point in arguing. The tracks are switched solidly and they will roll right down their predetermined track no matter the facts. Facts are for normal people. Please enjoy this example.

“You come to understand that most people are neither for you nor against you; they are thinking about themselves. You learn that no matter how hard you try to please, some people in this world are not going to love you, a lesson that is at first troubling and then really quite relaxing.”

But "sincere flattery" is an oxymoron. In the original sense of the word, flattery means praise that is not sincere but is intended to get you something that you want.

What Beaumarchais was trying to say is that in a censored world, all praise will be fake praise. Think North Korean "Dear Leader" worship. Think of the intolerance of criticizing our POTUS. Some Muslims seem unable to tolerate anything but flattering praise.

Its most recent cover joked about author Michel Houellebecq’s new novel “Submission,” which speculates about a future in which France elects a Muslim president. Since its release, many have called “Submission” Islamophobic, though Houellebecq has said that “an alliance between Catholics and Muslims is possible,” and that “jihadists are bad Muslims.”

The shooters shouted “Allahu akbar” and “The prophet is avenged” while carrying out their attack. Terror analysts also noted that they made a one-finger hand gesture, signifying Islam’s emphasis of God’s oneness, that is often featured in propaganda videos of the Islamic State terror group.

In the videos, the men looked calm and poised, not firing any unnecessary shots, showing that they were well-trained for the attack.

A 220 year-old time capsule was opened by Massachusetts officials on Tuesday. The capsule contained coins, documents and newspapers and various artifacts left by Revolutionary War figures like Samuel Adams and Paul Revere.

"The history of Massachusetts is the history of America" Said William Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth before opening the box.

So is the history of Pennsylvania. So is New York. So is Virginia, you presumptuous twit. So is Maryland, North and South Carolina, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and the Providence Plantations. So is Georgia and so is Delaware. So is New Jersey and so is Connecticut.

So is Florida, for that matter and so is certainly Louisiana. In fact, New Orleans is older than the United States.

But your egoistic presumptions aside, what do you have there? I'm curious.

There is a 1652 Pine tree shilling struck by the colonists in defiance of England. There is a bronze medal of George Washington and a silver plate made by Paul Revere. There are colonial records and newspapers.

They will be on display for awhile then set back beneath the statehouse cornerstone along with a few fresh items of today. Make that ftatehoufe cornerftone.

"This is the most exciting project I've ever worked on...this is what we as conservators live for." -Pam Hatchfield

You don't get out much, do you Pam?

NBC News with photos! Kidding aside, It is interesting. American history always is interesting. I recommend it.

Exciting as all that is for Pam, have you ever watched Antique Roadshow recorded in England? People line up for miles, it seems, and come in holding tea cups older than our country.

But speaking of old junk, there were some really cool discoveries in 2014. News Discovery lists ten of them. Not only has a previously unknown pharaoh been discovered but also a previously unknown wife of another. Notice when they come up the word "nefer" again. Once you see it, you see it everywhere. Remember it means "beautiful" sometimes "perfect" sometimes "true" and sometimes "goodness" because those concepts are inseparable philosophically: truth is beautiful and good, goodness is true and beautiful, beauty is good and true. The symbol looks like a lute, or a banjo but it is actually the esophagus and stomach of a sheep. The sign is found in Gardiner's list of hieroglyphic signs "F: Parts of Mammals, F35, a very useful sign.

The sign will be seen in their names. The pharaoh has five names, it's bound to be in one of them.

1) A tile mosaic from a tomb at Amphipolis, Alexander the Great-era.

2) Secret monuments at Stonehenge. The site isn't just the stone circle. There are some seventeen temples discovered, previously unknown Neolithic shrines.

3) An 18th Century shipwreck discovered at the site of the Twin Towers destruction in NYC.

4) King Richard III's skeleton revealing he suffered adolescent idiopathic scoliosis. Now, you would think that would be evident in his suit of armor. They save all that stuff, you know.

5) Skeletal remains of a teenager in a Yucatan underwater cave, not a cenote, along with the remains of saber-toothed cats, pumas, sloths and bears.

6) Damage to five of Syria's six UNESCO World Heritage sites due to war. (Not actual new discoveries, rather discoveries of new destruction.)

7) An ancient papyrus with Greek writing that says Jesus was married. Most likely faked. I don't know why they are listing this, but it is pretty cool nonetheless, just to see what fakers get up to.

8) Cheese on an old Chinese mummy. On a string around her neck, probably intended as snack in the afterlife. You never can be too careful. She was beautiful in life.

9) King Tut's erection. Okay, that is just being salacious. Embalmers wanted to make it look like Tut had a hard on for the return to old polytheism, like Osiris, after the disruption of monotheism caused by his Tut's dad.

10) Scratches in rocks and on shells in the shame of "M's" that can only be done by man, now revealed to have been done by pre-man Homo-erectus. There's that erection again.

Unknown pharaoh's remains identified as King Woseribre Senebkay. He ruled an area between the powerful Northern and Southern kingdoms at a time of upheaval, an intermediary period of disruption. That is, disruption by foreign rulers. There may be as many as twenty other unknown pharaohs. Multiple pharaohs ruling concurrently at different areas of the Nile. To show you how disruptive the period was. Archaeologists were excavating a larger tomb of Sobekhotep when they discovered Senebkay.

Hotep means "Peace" or "Satisfaction" It is a very common sign used often in names. The sign depicts an offering mat with bread offering standing upright on it.

The half circle means "t"

The square means "p"

Imagine carving in all that redundancy. The sign already means "hotep" So the carver is chiseling away, probably not even knowing what the scribe has him chiseling. And the scribe insisted on the redundancy purely for reasons of aesthetics. Instead of being all smushed. In other cases they'll leave out those letters where it suits them, say, inside a cartouche. He wanted the word to fit in a square to be visually appealing. That's all. And now a worker has to carve it all out just to satisfy the scribes. What a bummer.

Sobek means crocodile. I made a pop-up card depicting sobek as an actual crocodile.

Either one will do, anthropomorphized or not. Both mean S-b-k, Sobek.

But that is the larger tomb being excavated. The newly discovered tomb is Woseribre Senebkay.

Back to Senebkay.

We mustn't let these oddly long words scare us. They always do breakdown to simpler known forms, and their forms are highly formulaic.

The name is incomplete. And there is confusion with another ruler at the same time. Egyptologists are still sorting competing ideas.

The royal name:

The first as found, the second a reversed drawing.

Duck with sun means "son of re" name. The name given to the person at birth. The bits inside the cartouche are letters, and word-signs and grammar.

The hook shape is a folded piece of textile, it means the letter "S"

Zig-zag water means "n"

The lower leg with foot means "b"

The two connected upright forearms with hands means "ka" a portion of the human soul with its own unique properties. Unlike our concept of human soul.

The two feathers are sedge fronds, individually they mean "eh" in pairs they mean "plural" of the preceding sign, so, two kas.

The kas of Seneb. Seneb means "health." It is a word used formulaically quite often, rather Spock-like: Ankh, Wedja, Seneb, meaning "life, prosperity (to be whole, or endurance) and health. You see it all the time all over the place.

Hold up your hand with your fingers separated down the center like Spock and say, "Life, prosperity, health." The Egyptians wrote that all the time.

Woseribre,

Woser (sometimes Weser) is the k-9 head on a stick, it means "power"

"ib" means "heart"

"re" means "sun god"

So then, Power, heart of Re

See? Formulaic as can be.

The item on history.com has more information on what the archaeologists found at Woseribre Senebkay's tomb. But nobody is going to tell you all this.

So that was an exciting discovery. Also a previously unknown wife of a known pharaoh.

Come on, doesn't this beat the pants off a 1652 shilling?

Tomb of Queen Khentakawess III discovered in Abusir.

Huffington Post. Bless their hearts, they have the best reporting on this. They do. Credit where it is due. Thank you, Ed Mazza.

Long forgotten, newly rediscovered by Czech archaeologists, her tomb is 4,500 years old, placing her at the time the pyramids were built. It is a small tomb crudely decorated. Inscriptions identify her as wife of a king and mother of a king. Her husband was Neferefre.

At last, "Nefer" I told you it'd show up.

Nefer = perfecton

"f" means "of"

"re" means "sun god" So then, "Perfection of Re," or "Truth of Re," or "Goodness of Re," what have you.

Nice.

But this is just Archaeology. There are excellent discoveries in Astronomy Paleontology, new dinosaur bones discovered, biology, new animal life forms discovered, also numerous incredible science breakthroughs and discoveries. 2014 was an all around excellent year for sciences.

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

One of several tweets interrogating Wesley Lowery, writer for Washington Post that nettles him as taunting. He's had it. Blocked the taunting followers and calls them stalkers for reading his posts. He's taken his argument Tumbler here, showing the screenshots of taunting tweets and responding. At the end of it some dozen + Tumbler followers "Like this" Wesley Lowery's response.

Since Twitter troll now stalks my tumblr, some responses:

1. every reporter i know who was initially in Ferguson tried to speak with the store owner - he’s lawyered up and won’t talk. I’ve followed up with the attorney several times (most recently two weeks ago - will follow up again today), no dice.

2. For the record: The store owner was not the person shown in the video being grabbed by Brown, that is another employee.

Someone let this guy know his media criticism is no more accurate in 2015 than it was in 2014.

That almost sounds reasonable, doesn't it?

But logic come as naturally to Wesley Lowery as consistent capitalization, as they do to his beholden followers over there on Tumbler who "like this." Apparently he does not see how his response demonstrates the points made by the vexing taunting stalking questioners.

Let the vexing, taunting, stalking question be restated then, since Wesley Lowery is so impossible on the uptake:

Does anyone know the name of the employee that Michael Brown grabbed by the throat? And, why don't you?

And now that the question is restated for the hard of understanding and its response predicted, did every reporter Wesley Lowery knows who was initially in Ferguson try to speak with the employee that Michael Brown throttled? Is he lawyered up too, does the employee refuse to talk too? If so, have you followed up with his attorneys?

Finally, stop telling people to do what you can do easily enough yourself. Let the guy know his his media criticism is just as accurate in 2015 as it was in 2014 and that you, Wesley Lowery, are just as thick now as then. They haven't blocked you as you have them. And stop trying to bullshit us. That only works on your fellow traveler race baiting liberals.

"Right now there are only 12 people who can't talk about the evidence out there," ACLU attorney Tony Rothert said. "The people who know the most — those 12 people are sworn to secrecy. What (the grand juror) wants is to be able to be part of the conversation."

The grand juror behind the lawsuit believes "the current information available about the grand jurors' views is not entirely accurate — especially the implication that all grand jurors believed that there was no support for any charges," the lawsuit contends. "Moreover, the public characterization of the grand jurors' view of witnesses and evidence does not accord with Plaintiff's own."

"The Supreme Court has said that grand jury secrecy must be weighed against the juror's First Amendment rights on a case-by-case basis," Rothert said. "The rules of secrecy must yield because this is a highly unusual circumstance. The First Amendment prevents the state from imposing a lifetime gag order in cases where the prosecuting attorney has purported to be transparent."

Monday, January 5, 2015

Red Bill De Blasio has commented on the fact that some police officers turned their back on his empty eulogy at that funeral for Officer Liu. The Sandinista Mayor said:

“Those individuals who took certain actions this last week––or last two weeks, really––they were disrespectful to the families involved. That’s the bottom line. They were disrespectful to the families who had lost their loved one. And I can’t understand why anyone would do such a thing in a context like that.”

Let's review who was disrespectful and who was not. De Blasio did not show up for the wake for Officer Ramos until 9pm after it was over. He missed the eulogy from the Officer's minister and more importantly the moving tribute from his son. What did he possibly have to do that was more important than being there early to show his "respects?" This is the guy who went to the gym instead of attending the funeral of Herman Badillo who was a pioneering leader in the Hispanic Community. What does he have against Hispanics?

Did you ever attend a wake? What you do is you show up early and show your respects. You sit quietly and maybe say a prayer. You might participate when the priest or minister or rabbi says a prayer. Or not if it is not your tradition. You sit there and show your "respect." I have been at wakes and memorials and services for almost every religion and creed in my day and I always saw everyone show up on time and be respectful.

Unless they were worthless communist scumbags.

He didn't show up late for Officer Liu's service. He came. He stayed for fifteen minutes. FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What did he have to do that was so important that he couldn't stay for more than the time it takes to fry up an eggroll? What does he have against Chinese people?

What does he have against Cops?

We know what he has against them. He had to warn his son that he might get killed by a racist cop when he is much more likely to get hit by lightning or eaten by a shark. He had to reinstate the Judge who let a perp walk who had posted terroristic threats against the NYPD just like the guy who ended up killing the two officers. He defended the chief of staff who has a boyfriend who is a career criminal. He has members of the his administration who post things like "Fuck the Police" on their twitter.

The proof is in the pudding. The pudding that is Al Sharpton that sits at his right hand when he makes decisions about policing the city.

I won't get into his wife and her associates and attitudes. I will just let you know that she wore a pair of jeans to the funeral.

Sharpton notably did not publicly assert his support for Pascal after the meeting — what observers say seems like a typical Sharpton “shakedown” in the making. Pay him in cash or power, critics say, and you buy his support or silence.

“Al Sharpton has enriched himself and NAN for years by threatening companies with bad publicity if they didn’t come to terms with him. Put simply, Sharpton specializes in shakedowns,” said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal & Policy Center...

And Sharpton, who now boasts a close relationship with Obama and Mayor Bill de Blasio, is in a stronger negotiating position than ever.

“Once Sharpton’s on board, he plays the race card all the way through,” said a source who has worked with the Harlem preacher. “He just keeps asking for more and more money.” (read the whole thing)

From Kevin Sorbos' twitter line, a very interesting line, actually. Sorbos posts a link to My Modern Met, 37 Most Incredible Photographs of the Year. Many of them are high dynamic range color extension, with a few time lapse and other tricks with lasers and multiple exposures, one looks like a Maxfield Parish painting, and a few are just plain good photographs. All of them address an understanding of light. It always does get down to light.

With shadows and white balance and changes of white it is even possible to defy the old joke, "a polar bear in a snow storm," here, a polar bear on an iceberg where the differences in white along with minor coloration, blue ice and shadowing and dirty fur and water tell the story behind the photograph titled "Arctic Hi-Five." It does take a skilled photographer to capture the detail in ice. Impressive. I have trouble photographing a cut onion against a white surface.

The Andrew Cuomo anti-corruption commission one, I am not familiar. Apparently Cuomo promised a commission with carte blanche but when evidence led the commission to subpoena a company that placed ads for Democrats including Cuomo then an aide put on the kibosh. Thus the eighteen month plan initiated with much fanfare was abruptly quietly ended at nine months.

Neither was I familiar with Rachel Noerdlinger controversy, but now that I read through, it does ring a few bells. She was hired at $170,000 a year as chief of staff to first lady of NYC, yet had two serious unresolved tax problems easily managed with such a large salary. She failed to disclose she was living with a felon, and worse than all that, she had special privileges to avoid living in New York City by claiming her son suffers serious handicap requiring them to live near their doctor in New Jersey. Her son the football player. Kyle Smith says Mayor De Blasio was enraged -- that anyone would point out her lies. What have we come to, asks De Blasio, when people go digging around the personal lives of public servants? The audacity!

I recommend following the link, it is a thrilling good fast read. All recap.

But all that is how conservative people think. They're not even considered lies by liberals. What do liberal people think is important when it comes to lies in 2014?

10) Alisha Jasmine Hessler's lie about having a third breast surgically implanted was exposed when she claimed stolen luggage and and signed a list that included a 3 breast prosthesis. The claim was published on smoking Gun.

photo included for your lascivious satisfaction.

9) Kim Kardashian said that the photos she did to break the internet, although they are mentioned 178,000 times on Twitter, "I love the photos. I did it for me."

8) Footage presented on Discovery Channel for Shark Week of a megalodon attacking a sperm whale is faked.

7) Seven million automobiles are potentially affected by lies told by Takata, a Japanese air-bag company

6) False Secret Service report regarding White House break in. *ding* we have a match with conservative point of view.

5) Donald Sterling private conversation that was recorded and used for extortion is revisited, although no actual lie is cited.

4) USC football player Josh Shaw lied about two ankle sprains suffered by jumping from a second floor balcony to save his young nephew from drowning in a pool, but he was actually fleeing the scene of a fight after the police were called.

3) Rolling Stone's bogus rape story *ding* a second match with conservative point of view

2) This government does not torture people, five people pictured, all Republicans, of course.

1) Putin, no troops in Ukraine.

Wow. No Democrat lies. None. That's really something. I don't imagine there will be any convincing any of them of their debilitating blind spot. No red-tipped white canes needed here, no seeing-eye dogs required, no Siree. No lies whatsoever emanating from federal government, none from the DoJ, none from the White House, none from IRS, nothing from State. All that is small potatoes. Astounding. It's all popular culture, all foreign governments. The only thing close is the Secret Service thing and that is as much misstep and incompetence as lies and CIA from previous administration. Bush and Cheeny still dominate their precious pointed little heads. What a beautiful thing it must be to living as partisan Democrat. How light and breezy and free of actual hard facts.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Twitter is all so very amusing, but it is not the place that network news can rely for source material. Not without double checking. Every. Single. Word.

DPRK News Service is a parody account. The parody account is run by Popehat, another twitter account, also a website. Popehat is run by a group of people, originally gamers. Several of them are attorneys or work in related fields. They are interested in legal matters, geek culture, popular culture, products, films, music, books, food, and general Tom foolery.

Their DPRK parody account is obvious if you care to scroll down and take in the entries it becomes clear. But fail to do that and you risk being taken in. When news services rely on Twitter, their first mistake, then use a parody account for their information, second mistake, and fail to double check, third mistake, then misinformation spreads like wildfire.

Recently Greta Van Susteren of Fox News was taken in. She claims that her three visits to North Korea (and so her reading a lot of history on North Korea!) make her someone with unique insight. She believes North Korea's hack against Sony is actually directed at Japan. She provides historical reasoning. She uses DPRK News Service as her source of information without double checking. She publishes all this. It goes all too far. Finally Patrick Non-White of Popehat can take no more of it and reveals to Greta Van Susteren that NPRK News Service is a parody account, but she fails to take heed and persists with her insistence on her angle about North Korea's real aim being Japan, not the United States. This time.

Perhaps her mail is too full. Perhaps she gets a lot of advice from crackpots.

At length, Patrick Non-White tells Greta Van Susteren that he can predict with 100% accuracy the next thing that will appear on the DPRK News Service within the next 10 minutes. Something ridiculous.

At last it sinks in and Greta Van Susteren makes a minor adjustment to her page, "some say it's a hoax." Finally taking down the whole page as the hoax is fully exposed. No doubt embarrassing to her self-regarding expertise on North Korea derived from her three visits and her historical reading.

Proving once again Americans as a general rule just flat do not get parody.

But, but, but, it has a North Korean flag!

How is America to possibly get parody when the whole nation, the whole world in fact, continually out-parodies parody itself? It gets down to double checking. It gets down to never trusting Twitter for anything at all. Except entertainment and even that is questionable. That's it. Occasionally genuine information peeps through. But not reliably so.

The story is mostly about Greta Van Susteren because she is the person Patrick Non-White writing for Popehat revealed himself. What a bummer to have to explain that your site is parody. She has the widest audience apparently, so does the greatest damage. But DPRK News Service site also took in Slate. To its credit Slate left up their page with a correction. The author claims it was a "misstatement" Patrick Non-White insists, no, it was a failure to read (through the rest of DPRK News Service to see and to process it is a parody site, meant to be amusing not meant to be believed.)

I would prefer he not reveal himself as parody and let the thing run. Allow news providers to further damage themselves.

The Washington Post is also taken in by DPRK News Service parody site.

Newsweek is also taken in by the parody site.

Reuters also falls for the joke.

CNN also stumbles over DPRK News Service parody site.

Of them all, Newsweek can take a good joke. They invited Patrick Non-White for an interview.

My opinion is there is not a liberal alive without a giant bug up their ass about FOX News. Gnawing away up there tormenting them endlessly. No comment on politics is possible without such a reference. The ridiculous presupposition is all conservatives watch FOX news, that all conservatives agree with FOX news, that FOX news hasn't any liberal point of view on it. And further that FOX News forms opinion rather than reflect viewer preference. That tells me their news sources do form their own opinions revealing their own habits and thought process, otherwise they would not care. I have never seen anything like it. Just today without seeking any liberal point of view at all, because I don't want it one single bit, I was nevertheless presented with this same position at least six times.

While the rock bottom pit of outright blatant stupidity MSNBC gets a full pass. As do all the other networks speaking for government and for the Democrat party, They are not even embarrassed by knowing their own media is nothing short of straight up propaganda. They're not embarrassed by their president having his fingers on all the network's buttons, heeding his instructions acting as direct mouthpiece for a president. They do not care about News network's contributions to their party, nor all the other liberal big money contributors they refuse to acknowledge, while simultaneously caterwauling about Citizens United and their ridiculous obsession about "evil" Koch brothers. You would think, I think, they would reject it all on that basis alone, by suspecting they are being played, their emotions toyed, by recognizing it and not having it. And I suppose they are not having it based on plummeting ratings of all of these networks. All of that comes after the assumption that FOX network is being watched by the person(s) being addressed.

As for myself I find the network unwatchable. But not for the reasons ascribed. I cannot take rushed dialogue combined with stuttering. I just cannot. It's a thing. Not from genuine stutters, that is tolerable, but from well-spoken pundits rushing opinion. Even the Cartoon Network is more clearly spoken than any of the news networks. So that network must come to me in spits and spurts like all of the network news channels, all of television in fact, and all for different reasons. Plus I cannot tolerate remarkably retarded liberals guests on FOX who consistently have their asses handed them but persist in banging on anyway.

Yesterday I observed a portion of a panel discussion on CNN about journalism. A man in the audience asked a question specifically about the splitting of points of view in journalism. The panel member who responded said, "I think you are referring to the phenomena of Murdoch's FOX News." Then he denigrated the network with a resigned "well, what are you going to do" type of answer. His profound assumption is all audience members and all panel members agree with him. Another panel member wasn't letting him get away with that unchallenged by saying he thinks differing points of view are useful for healthy democracy. But it was the way the first panel responder reinterpreted the question about journalism in general to express his obsession of FOX News specifically that revealed he lives with an embarrassingly tormenting gnawing ass-bug. I clicked off in disgust. So, there went the rest of the questions and answers.

Most unseemly.

It is the shibboleth that says outright, "I AM A PERFECT IDIOT." A position that is always stated and never defended. Why? Because they cannot. All they have are the snippets lifted for ironic juxtaposition on Jon Stewart. They have no real position to argue other than FOX New is stupid. Guess what. You're stupid.

I am shown the FOX News tormenting ass-bug regularly. Every single day. It emerges perfectly non-sequitur. It is part of any and all argumentation. It is foremost in every liberal's mind. I suffered a real hemorrhoid one time so I know the discomfort, but the Fox News ass-destroyer is permanent. It destroys their positions. It makes funny people lose their humor, as Cleese suddenly becomes not funny, rather, disturbed in a ridiculous way. I am certain Cleese imagines that hilarious. What does Cleese want, every news network to sing the same tune? There is a word for that and the word is not complimentary to open democracy nor useful for honest and open debate.

There is a way to denigrate and still be funny but not when your ass is tormented. Today I watched a comedian who was making everyday observations about how people speak and behave. He talked about things any atheist would find hilarious, how people pray, what they pray for, the ridiculous circumstances of their prayer. He had his audience in stitches pretending to deliver a grace prayer for a fast-food meal.

"Lord, please bless this meal we are about to partake and nourish our bodies.... somehow." *audience laughter* "Somehow magically change this Coca Cola to nutritious liquid on the way down." *Laughter* "Like, magically change the molecules as they're going down there to our stomachs from fat and sugar molecules to something healthy." *Audience is dying in laughter.* "So that we can continue to eat junk food and still have it be nutritious." It took me too long to realize I had landed on a Christian channel.

Among many things he talked about how some Christian phrases are overused.

"The Lord gave this song." *Assumes pious pose* "And then she sings." *Audience laughs* He makes squealing high-pitched series of non-musical sounds. *Audience laughs* "Maybe you should give the song back." *Audience in hysterics*

He talks about observations that bug him, his family, being a father, his community, without offending anybody at all. They accept his criticism and his wry observations because the whole bit is so amusingly set out.

But not so with the Fox News ass-destroyer bug. Not once have I heard an amusing routine. It is entirely possible to produce one, but you have to be familiar with the material first, and they are not familiar with the material. All they now is they don't like that FOX gets the highest cable ratings, and they sense it is destructive to their many causes. They lost their humor entirely.

But this is all so wearisome and so common. How about something completely different, something amusing instead? Here is a curve ball. A diversion, as to erase the white board of all that up there.